Fund of Information

A Fund by Any Other Name...

Hedge funds have been tarred by poor performance, heavy outflows, and no shortage of spurious behavior. So investors are turning to mutual funds that employ hedge fund strategies. But is that the solution?

Phil Falcone. Steve Cohen. Raj Rajaratnam. In the court of public opinion -- not to mention some more legally binding arenas -- hedge-fund managers are facing tough criticism. Their more law-abiding counterparts, meanwhile, are suffering from poor performance and heavy outflows. There's very little good news to be found in the hedge-fund industry these days.

The better news for alternative investments, perversely, is via firms...